


Resolve

by quassia



Series: Coda [1]
Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Comfort, Disturbing Themes, Gen, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-21
Updated: 2014-09-21
Packaged: 2018-02-18 04:54:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2336009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quassia/pseuds/quassia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They walk through a ruined world. Sometimes, the reality is much worse than the memories, but in order to move forward, they have to face those memories at some point. They return to Tokyo, to visit old places of import.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Resolve

Bitter wind slaps at Souda’s face, carrying grit and dust and the lingering stench of—of something. He doesn’t want to say  _death_ so he opts instead for a scent like smog or heavy pollution and leaves it at that. He hunches himself further down in the sweater, tugging the hood closer to his own head, his fingers twining around the drawstrings to assure that it’s fully closed.

They all walk in hooded sweaters, jackets, pulled up over their heads, disguising their features as best as they can. For all intents and purposes… they don’t have a right to walk through this country anymore.

But, they’d wanted to come.

Four figures, walking, picking their way over the debris that was once Tokyo.

Sonia is absent, had smiled with a sad expression when they’d asked her to come. Japan wasn’t the country she wanted to return to, and the Japan she and her people had enjoyed was already a thing of the past. _No,_ she had said, _I’ll stay here. Please, return safely. Please know that I’ll be waiting here… with everyone else._

So they had left the warm, bright sun and the heat of the island. They’d only stay a week, they had decided. That was the amount of time they could risk and also the amount of time they felt comfortable leaving Sonia alone back there with their comatose friends. While she had told them to take as much time as they pleased, they had refused. None of them could rest easy like that. The island was lonely enough with five people, much less one.

It was thanks to Naegi that they’re here, walking in what used to be all of their homes. Deep down, each of them dreaded this, but they needed to come all the same.

“We have to keep moving forward,” Hinata had said and they’d all agreed.

Still…

Souda rubs his hands along his arms, shivering again as the cold prickles at him. “It’s freezin’,” he grumbles.

“How long do you think we’ve been living on a tropical island?” Kuzuryuu replies from next to him, reaching out automatically with a gloved hand to steady Souda as he stumbles over some more debris on the ground. There’s concrete from fallen buildings, those fallen buildings all around them, collapsed onto one another like broken bodies attempting to hold each other up. But here and there, peeking through, are newer buildings, or intact buildings, maintained by someone or another. Souda fancies that he sees lights in some. There are still people living here.

But it was impossible to expect that everything would be fine everywhere, was what they had heard from Naegi. Things were difficult and they, as members of the Future Foundation, still had a lot of work to do. As did the regular people who managed to live through those dark times.

“That ain’t the point…”

“We’re getting close,” Hinata calls from up ahead and both Kuzuryuu and Souda look forward. He stands on a higher area, lifting a hand to gesture and his eyes burn bright and red with the sun behind him, descending slowly through the sky, lengthening the already long and imposing silhouettes of the buildings and Hinata himself. Souda can feel a chill down his back, but Hinata’s eyes are calm and his smile reassuring, so he uncurls clenching hands and tries to forget a laughing girl with her nails and her hairpins, spinning and laughing and laughing as blood and bodies rained down—

“Oi, Souda, you look awful,” Owari comments next to him, and there comes a robotic “AWFUL!!” chiming from her pocket. She pats affectionately at it, at the tiny robotic Nidai that Souda had built all by himself, with spare parts he had taken from around the island. He had figured out a way to tune the voice box, too, so it sounded just like their friend.

“Shut up, I’m allowed.”

“D’you need to sit? Hinata—” Kuzuryuu starts to call out to him and Souda flushes.

“Stop it, stupid. I’m _fine_. It’s just… you know…”

“Oh.”

Kuzuryuu knows. They all know. They’d woken up somewhere between Super High School Level Despair and their old selves before the school, swamped with memories of their time together on the island and of the time before that. Those thick feelings of Despair, spinning and whirling endlessly down into a black vortex. Nothing had mattered, this was why they had ended it all, why they had dedicated themselves to spreading it… They had gotten through that time after their awakening thanks to one another. They had always been alone, from a long time ago. Each one of them, in a way, had been alone. But since they weren’t alone now, things were different and they could strive for a brighter future even as they recalled more and more fragments of their memories, both despairing and not…

But that sense of alone was why they had all felt misgivings leaving Sonia behind, even for the week. Souda had been especially vocal, but eventually her calmness and composure had reassured them all… somewhat.

“You okay?” Hinata asks him as they join him at the crest of the hill. He claps gently at Souda’s shoulder with a hand and Souda huffs at him, knuckles him in the ribs. “Ouch—okay, okay, I get it. You’re fine. Here, look.”

Crouching with Hinata, they do. Below them isn’t a paradise, hidden in the midst of destroyed Tokyo. But it is, as Naegi had said, a sanctuary. Everywhere is evidence of the destruction, but they can see people from here, too, people walking along the streets of this district. There are some who are armoured, carrying weapons, but they slow, chatting with passing pedestrians. There is a sense of normalcy here. This is the location where Hope’s Peak once stood, the centre of Tokyo, and even now that building is far off, visible but something that they all turn their eyes from.

—this is also where the Future Foundation is.

The headquarters is further in, Naegi had told them, but he’d heartily implored them to have a quick look if they got a chance. He wanted to show them how they had slowly but surely been returning things to something resembling life, happiness, _hope_.

It’s beautiful, for all that it’s imperfect, but Souda can see some smiles on people’s faces from here and hears Kuzuryuu sniffle roughly next to him. For Kuzuryuu’s sake, he doesn’t turn to look.

“I can smell somethin’,” Owari says and sticks her nose forward like an animal. “Oi, smells like somethin’ good is cookin’ down there! Hinata—”

“Ahh,” Hinata mumbles, thoughtfully… and then he shakes his head. “That’s no good. We’ll get Naegi in trouble if we go down there.”

They deflate. However, they know the risks. It’s why they came in disguise, resolved not to talk to anyone more than necessary, not to do anything more than necessary. Even though Naegi spoke on their behalf, there are many people who would want to kill them. _An’ they wouldn’t be wrong,_ Souda thinks. They want to live, though. They want to walk toward the future. They… can’t die until all of them are together again.

Hinata leads them down the hill, off into the wreck of the city all around them. Owari is grumbling something about being hungry, but she’s following, as are Souda and Kuzuryuu.

“Where to first, Hinata?” Kuzuryuu asks after they’ve been walking without a word for a few minutes.

“Somewhere to stay…”

“Eh, even though that Naegi guy offered to find us a place…” Souda scratches the side of his head through the hood. “…it didn’t feel right at all.”

“Yeah,” Hinata agrees with a sidelong smile.

“Ha, leave it to me!” Owari bounds ahead a few steps, her hood flapping off before Hinata voices a quick, warning “Owari”, and she hastily snaps it back onto her head. “Oops, sorry, sorry. Anyway, leave it t’me! I’ll find us a dump to stay in!”

“I don’t want a dump!” Souda flares up, indignant.

“Hah?! A roof’s better than nothin’!”

“My standards ain’t the same as yours,” he groans.

“Somewhere… _not_ falling apart, at least, all right, Owari?” Hinata interjects before they can start quarrelling (good-natured but with the tendency to be long-winded).

“Heeeehhh, fine. Got it.”

“…hang on,” Kuzuryuu speaks up abruptly and they all look back at him. He’s frowning, his gaze shifting from side to side, looking at the area around them. “Follow me. We’ll go to my place.”

Souda blanches. “Kuzuryuu, your place…”

“I know,” Kuzuryuu cuts him off quickly. “But if it’s no good… we’ll find somewhere else.” There’s a light burning in his eye, but it isn’t excitement rather than a need to see with his own eyes (eye) the damage he wrought. Souda understands, so do Hinata and Owari, as… that’s why they’ve come here as well. To see each and every place they’ve had a hand in wrecking.

Kuzuryuu looks severely between them all, earning a shrug from Owari and a troubled frown from Hinata… before he shakes his head and then inclines it. “Lead the way.”

 

* * *

 

It’s the kind of place you’d expect out of the biggest yakuza family in Japan—or, the former biggest. It’s empty now, there’s no bustling or noise or motion inside. They pass through the gate that, Kuzuryuu tells them, used to once have an enormous pair of doors to admit people, with the Kuzuryuu family sign on it. They enter the estate slowly, picking their way toward the building proper. He leads the way, a small and lonely figure before Souda steps up to join him, nudging against him occasionally as they walk.

The floors are wood that must have been polished at one point, covered now with dust and stains Souda doesn’t want to think too hard about, the sliding doors wrecked, most sliced open or punctured or knocked down altogether.

It’s empty. There are no bodies.

It might because of its closeness to the Future Foundation headquarters, perhaps because some people, in their hunger, had gotten desperate, or maybe all of those bodies had been heaped somewhere as a display…

Kuzuryuu’s feet stop. They stop behind him without saying anything. He looks through the gash torn in the door, hesitates… and then slides it open gradually, revealing to them a girl’s room.

“Your sister?” Hinata asks softly.

“…Aa.”

It’s miraculously untouched. Surprising, considering there are surely looters around. But Kuzuryuu enters, touches everything with his fingers reverently before he kneels on the floor in seiza, straight-backed and solemn, his hands on his knees.

Hinata nudges them softly, trying to indicate that they should give him time to do this, to mourn, and they hesitate. Souda most of all, because that back looks so small, even as still as it’s held. He reaches out to grasp a shoulder and sees only an eyepatch as Kuzuryuu turns his head.

“…It’s fine. Go look around, all right?”

They split up to look around, Souda picking his way tentatively through the estate, wooden boards softly creaking underfoot. He doesn’t know where he’s going, or what he’s looking for, just peeking in this room or that, looking down long hallways or finding a particularly large room that must have had decorations mounted on the wall in the back at one point… As he comes around to the back of the house, to what must have been a garden or a pond at one point, the smell hits him and he jerks to a halt.

His hand claps over his mouth, his skin draining of colour, eyes wide, dark pinpricks in his face, framed further by dark hair, dark glasses.

“Fuck,” he curses. Of course there’d be no way all those bodies would be disposed of so easily. He needs to… something… he needs…

He feels a brush at his back and jerks, whips around to see Kuzuryuu, staring past him. He can’t read his face.

“K-Kuzuryuu,” he stammers, as though he’s the one who did this. Kuzuryuu’s eye shuts and he turns his face to one side and Souda grabs him around the shoulders, grips and pulls him in until he’s hugging that head to his chest. Kuzuryuu’s fingers bite hard into his side, hard enough to bruise and sting he’s sure, but he doesn’t feel Kuzuryuu’s shoulders or back heaving with sobs, and when he finally lifts his face, it’s dry and that eye of his is sharp.

“I’m gonna bury ‘em.”

“Ah…” Souda blinks. “Wait… now?”

“Of course _now_ … you think I’m letting my people lay here like this? Like hell.” Kuzuryuu’s jaw is working, grinding his teeth together, and Souda thinks he’s angry, furious at himself. He surely hates himself, in this very moment. But Souda ignores the warning signs and touches his head and the back of his neck through his clothes. Kuzuryuu stiffens, that energy like a coiling spring ready to burst.

“We’re gonna need four shovels.”

Kuzuryuu goes limp under his hand, his turn to blink and look lost, vulnerable as Souda’s ever seen him.

“We all came here together for stuff like this,” Souda mutters and swallows. “So we’ll do it together. We’ll get Hinata and Owari and do it properly.”

Kuzuryuu softens. He nods without arguing and turns to hurry off, leaving Souda to turn and look at the pile of bodies, the pile, the endlessness of it, the Despair of it—

 

* * *

 

It takes them hours, and they work well into the night, not breaking for food even though Owari’s stomach growls and clamours. When they finish, they sit together, the four of them, and set the incense that they brought in front of fresh graves and markers crudely made from pieces of wood broken off of the home behind them. Kuzuryuu bows low on his knees, puts his head to the ground in front of the graves of his parents and mutters things continuously as he muddies his forehead with dirt.

Souda half expects a bloodstain to come creeping out from under him, but he doesn’t do anything like that, simply apologising over and over again to the people he and Pekoyama slaughtered.

 

* * *

 

  
“I’m surprised the plumbing still worked,” Kuzuryuu sighs. The boys sit together in the large bathroom of the house.

Owari had been fully prepared to come in with them and they’d all squawked at her (much to her skepticism) and they’d promised her full run of the bath later, so she should go eat something and leave them to it, all right?

“You forgettin’ I helped rig it up?” Souda sulks. He’d kickstarted the generator they had, fixed up the broken bits and gotten the thing working, damn it! Kuzuryuu laughs at him.

Hinata is dumping water over his head, sighing in content and squinting his eyes against the flow of it before he turns to look back toward them both. “Where should we go tomorrow?” he asks, pauses. “Should we make this our base?”

He looks to Kuzuryuu as he says it, and Kuzuryuu slicks back his hair with one hand, frowning. “Don’t look at me like that. It’s fine. It’s not the most secure, but no-one’s gonna come looking around in here. If they do, we’ll hear them right away.”

The floors _are_ awfully creaky, Souda thinks. “I’ll rig up my alarm system, too.”

“Please.” Hinata nods at him.

“As for tomorrow… should we go wherever Owari wants to go?” Kuzuryuu tips his head backward, sinking down further into the water.

 

* * *

 

“Oi, how’re you all so slow?! We’re almost there!” Owari is ahead of them, nimble and quick, scaling debris with an ease that leaves Souda glaring. None of them are truly unfit, but few of them can compare to Owari with her quick motions, though Souda’s sure that Nidai would have something to say about how she uses her body.

This area of the city is in worse shape than the others. The further from the Future Foundation’s safe zone, the worse it seems to get, and they’ve all noticed the shapes flickering through fallen buildings, the eyes that peer at their hooded shapes through broken glass. In each of their possessions is a gun. The weight of the weapon is heavy and unwelcome in Souda’s pocket (familiar, the rattle of bullets is familiar and he remembers things he doesn’t want to), but it had been something they’d taken along with them just in case.

And with Sonia’s encouragement.

“I used to live around here,” Owari is saying in a nostalgic way as they join her, her eyes fondly roving the area. It must have been slums or at least lower-class homes at one point. Souda can smell the faint reek of garbage and decay, thinks that some of the smell must be from bodies, buried somewhere under the rubble or elsewhere. “Ehh— I think that one of the places I used to work at was over there? Y’know, that big pile of wood.”

Her head jerks, indicating… and Souda thinks that it’s a pile of wood that looks like any other around here.

“C’mon.” Without waiting, Owari plunges down the steep embankment, stones clattering and rolling in her wake. They follow more carefully, picking their way, and Kuzuryuu at one point has to grab Souda’s collar to keep him from toppling down head-over-feet.

“Owari… I don’t think we should stay around here for too long,” Hinata speaks up slowly when they reach her. She’s sniffing at the air, looking around with sharp, too-bright eyes, a hound with their nose on the scent.

“Hah? What’re you sayin’, Hinata. I can’t go leavin’ yet, I…” Owari stops. A shade of vulnerability flickers into her face before her expression hardens. “…I’m lookin’ around. I have to, you get it?”

Hinata falters and one of his hands curls at his side, clutching onto his pant leg. He looks around them, at the shadows, the hulking behemoths of empty buildings with their endless staring eyes… and then he sighs. “I got it. But we’re being watched. So don’t run ahead.”

“Jeez, quit worryin’ so much,” Owari huffs, flipping her hand at him, the toy Nidai chiming in with a “TOO MUCH WORRYING!” and Hinata groans.

Souda’s hand has reached into the pocket of his sweater, nervous fingers around the gun, thumb teasing against the safety. Kuzuryuu takes his elbow and tugs him and they follow Owari and Hinata, ducking under the roofs of clumsily made shacks, sticks and tarp and sheets of metal clumsily placed together for cover. They find themselves travelling through a row of them, enclosed on all sides save for immediately in front and behind them and Souda’s sense of anxiety grows.

“It’s all right,” Kuzuryuu murmurs to him and squeezes his elbow.

They emerge on the other side without incident, in a lot that looks as though it was part of a landfill. True enough, there are heaps of garbage further ahead of them, slopes immediately ahead. Owari is sniffing still, bewildered, frowning around her. She takes a step left, right, pacing the area as she breathes in and eventually stops.

“It’s right here…”

With only that, she’s flipping pieces of sheet metal (oddly, carefully stacked now that Souda thinks of it) off to the side to reveal what looks like a hole, a burrow dug right into the garbage and the debris. From it, there comes a growling, and Hinata lurches forward, a gun already in his hand, cocked and aimed with pinpoint precision. But, Owari has knelt and lowered her voice into something soothing, “Hey, hey, s’fine. C’mon. I ain’t gonna hurt you. These guys, too, they’re way too useless to do anythin’ bad. C’mon out?”

Souda is thinking that there’s an animal, that Owari’s gone and found them some stray _dog_ when he sees the child—no, hardly a child, something more like a teenager, who snarls and spits at Owari and bares her teeth like an animal.

He shakes and Kuzuryuu tenses next to him. Hinata lowers his gun.

“…Owari, it’s no good,” Hinata mutters, faintly. “We can’t…”

“Shut up, Hinata,” she says over her shoulder, sharply, before turning back to the girl. She beckons with her hands, grinning. “Hey, see? Come on out. I ain’t gonna hurt you.”

The girl growls and backs up, deeper down the tunnel, and Owari’s grin falters, fading away. She doesn’t move after the girl as she disappears into the darkness, but she sits there for some time, staring into it after the growls have quieted into nothing. She stirs only when they approach her, Hinata setting a hand on her shoulder.

“I thought… y’know. Maybe it was one of my siblings. I thought the smell was familiar, but… Maybe one of ‘em escaped from— from _her_. Or me. Or…this. I mean, we’ve always been livin’ like this, strugglin’ to get by.” Owari rises on shaky feet and she frowns, confused and hurt as she steps further from the tunnel, but not before looking back a few times. Eventually, she stops and swings her pack from her shoulders. She pulls out something—wrapped foods, sandwiches and cooked meat they’d prepared.

Owari sets this close to the tunnel before rejoining them, rubbing her head.

“Eh… Sorry, guys.” She clears her throat, trying an awkward smile.

“The hell are you apologising for?” Kuzuryuu sighs and brings a loose fist against her back in a thump, making her look down at him with surprise. “It’s fine. We’re fine.”

“Tch—bein’ comforted by the baby yakuza,” she grumbles, to which he splutters.

Hinata shifts suddenly, though, and they turn at the sound of the click of the safety of his gun being released. He’s staring up, toward the top of one of the embankments. Souda looks up, too, and his heart jolts violently in his chest as he sees a black-and-white mask, a bear mask, and before him the world spins and turns and everything is Despair—

“Oi, fucker!” Owari roars, jerking him out of it. She’s glaring upward, sheer fury on her face. “Get that stupid mask off your face! And if you wanna fight, come and do it, I’ll take you down in a second!” She’s cracking her knuckles, flexing her fingers, not reaching for her own gun at all.

The bear masked person stands a while longer… and then they disappear, dashing away.

Kuzuryuu spits angrily and Souda’s skin is crawling and Hinata stands with his gun still at the ready. He’s still holding it cocked when he turns his head and says, “Let’s go back for today.”

As they leave the dump-like area, Owari glances back toward that little tunnel, that burrow… and sees an emaciated hand reach out, snatching up her offerings before retreating. She manages a grin, even as something strange and heavy twists in her chest she doesn’t know what to call, but it’s something like what she felt seeing old man Nidai brought back that time long before. Sucking in a deep breath, she straightens her back and jogs quickly to catch up with the others.

 

* * *

 

“Ah, was this where you all were?”

They receive a surprise visitor that night, one Makoto Naegi who makes his approach obvious, tapping on one of the busted doors into the largest room of the estate. The four of them are sitting together in the middle with a portable stove Souda brought, their dinner simmering over it and Owari nearly foaming at the mouth for food.

“Naegi,” Hinata greets with a nod, his hood sitting about his shoulders, “what’s up? I didn’t expect you to come out from the Future Foundation’s base.”

“Even I have to do something like that, Hinata-kun…” He laughs sheepishly and scratches his hair with one finger. The sheepishness, the aura about Naegi makes them all grin and Souda edges and smushes himself against Kuzuryuu’s side to make room for him in their circle, reaching out to turn some of the food in the pot with long chopsticks.

“So—where’s skinny Togami and that other one? Ki…gura?” Owari frowns.

Naegi blinks a few times. “You… mean Kirigiri-san? Um, they’re busy right now, so they couldn’t come with me. It’s better if it’s just me too, you know? Less obvious, or something.” He smiles again and accepts a plate handed to him by Hinata, forcefully involved in their dinner.

“So, how’d you figure out we were here?” Kuzuryuu half-reaches for the food before Souda swats at his hand and hisses to scold him, fending off Owari’s reaching chopsticks too.

“That was Kirigiri-san, actually…she thought this would be the closest place you’d all head to, after you got here.”

“Maybe we should relocate to somewhere less obvious,” Hinata hums, troubled. “If she can figure it out, then your foundation…”

“No, no, it’s okay,” Naegi interjects hurriedly. “Everyone at the Foundation is really busy now, you know? They’re preoccupied with this group causing trouble in one of the sorta settled districts. —oh, thanks.” He smiles to Souda serving him first, only for Owari to flare up, demanding her share indignantly before Souda starts a lecture on _damn it, guests first!_ “No one’s noticed you guys at all… I think.”

“Not no-one,” Hinata mumbles.

“Hinata-kun?”

“We saw someone today—wearing a Monokuma mask.” Something in Naegi’s expression falters. “I guess there are still those kinds of people around, aren’t there? Not that they did anything after Owari yelled at them.”

“Be careful, okay, everyone?” Naegi grows more solemn, looking around at them. “If they’ve already seen you, and if one of them’s run off… usually, there’re more than one of them in one given area.”

“Heh,” Kuzuryuu snorts. “Who do you think we are? We can deal with a little small fry.”

“Oi, do you mind not sayin’ ‘we’? Not all of us wanna fight,” Souda splutters.

“Coward,” Owari clucks her tongue at him.

“—Owari? You forget who’s in charge of food?” Souda glares.

“But, really… some of them have some dangerous weaponry, so…” Naegi squirms, uncomfortable. “I think that they can still be saved, of course! They aren’t like Enoshima. That’s why so many of them are taken to the Future Foundation, so we can work on helping them. But for right now… they’re not safe to engage with.”

“We got it,” Hinata assures him. “Don’t worry, Naegi. We’ll be careful… after all, we’re grateful to you for giving us this opportunity.”

Naegi looks torn, between pleasure and pain, for all of them don’t realise it but they look _awful_. Like they haven’t slept at all since they got here, streaked with dirt, something pale and drawn-out in them at seeing all of what they contributed to… However, something in their eyes shine bright. And he eventually nods and smiles at them, placing his hope in that bright shine, that determination and their belief.

“Mm… Don’t mention it. Now, is it all right to eat, Souda-kun?”

“Aa,” Souda declares, scooping up servings with a spoon for Hinata and Kuzuryuu while Owari gapes in horror at her lack of serving. “Go ahead! Let’s eat.”

“Souda, hey! My share?!”

 

* * *

 

“This is it?” Souda speaks it without thinking and Kuzuryuu elbows him hard in the ribs, leaving him wincing before clapping a hand to his mouth. He gives Hinata a sharp look, but Hinata just looks wistful, pained, but not by the question.

They’d decided to go to where Hinata wanted the next day at Souda’s insistence, assuring them his place wasn’t as big of a deal. This area isn’t as wrecked as much of the larger city is, the houses lower, no skyscrapers around to collapse onto others. While many of the buildings have been destroyed, wrecked or looted, this one… this commonplace, simple dwelling is largely untouched. Mind, the windows are dented, some shattered, but as they enter, the damage isn’t that severe.

Souda looks around slowly, taking in the place that Hinata grew up, the place he spent so much of his time longing for a place like Hope’s Peak and for talents. It feels, somehow, wrong entering this place, but Owari barges right in, looking around interestedly and ignoring Kuzuryuu’s scolding “oi”.

Hinata waves his hand to indicate it’s okay.

“It’s pretty plain, right? But… I loved this place. I didn’t realise how much.” Hinata lays his hand on one doorframe gently, fingers tracing chipped wood.

“It’s a good place, Hinata,” Owari says energetically, having made her way to the stairs heading up to the second floor. Souda stumbles forward to stop her and splutter at her that this is _Hinata’s_ place, what are you doing just going around. Kuzuryuu joins Hinata, giving him a look as he looks into the living room, much of it in hard shape, torn upholstery and things scattered. But otherwise… not too bad. Considering the many fallen buildings they’ve seen, the sheer amount of destruction.

“I’m okay,” Hinata quickly assures Kuzuryuu, only to earn a snort.

“Yeah right.” He punches his bicep. “You’re not okay. And that’s fine. Be not okay. Who of us could be okay…?”

Hinata swallows.

“If you need us to leave you alone… Tell us,” Kuzuryuu says insistently. In the face of that brusque kindness, Hinata can only nod.

They go upstairs, exploring the house, Hinata showing them his simple room. He finds the books on the shelves and Souda investigates them too, humming as he recognises a few of the school textbooks as similar ones that he’s studied. They think and remember, each of them, exploring this less-damaged house, of better times, of what could have been… Maybe, if they’d all been normal. Maybe, if Hope’s Peak hadn’t existed. Maybe they could have found each other somehow and then summer days could be spent crowded into Hinata’s room, studying or drinking or snacking and laughing…

An explosion rattles the house.

“Fuck!” Kuzuryuu balances himself quickly, his head snapping toward the doorway. “Shit! It’s probably those bastards! Hurry up, let’s get outta here! You got a back door in this place, Hinata?!”

“Y-yeah, this way!” Hinata vaults down stairs, Owari doing the same, and they tear through the house as another boom rattles and the front of the house explodes into chips of wood and glass. Souda feels an arm grabbing his and yanking him bodily, hurling him out into an overgrown backyard as his friends tumble after him, Hinata’s weight flattening him down.

“I swear I’ll fucking kill them,” Kuzuryuu’s voice reaches Souda’s ears distantly, as they feel like they’re ringing.

Hinata rolls off of Souda, helping him quickly upright. “No, we gotta hurry, let’s go!” He can’t look back as another explosion comes and his house, that miraculously intact house, crumbles and cracks and groans in death, falling and collapsing. Owari and Kuzuryuu seethe—their own homes being destroyed by their own hands or having always been like that is one thing, but the home of one of their friends who came here to remember, to mourn, it’s unacceptable, it’s…

Souda turns abruptly, flinging something overhead, something that arcs and in his other hand dangles a silver pin.

The explosion this time comes from what he’s thrown that’s arced over the fallen building, and they can hear distant shouts and cries before Souda’s voice, loudest of all, vibrating with tears and anger, “THAT’S WHAT YOU GET, YOU _SONS OF BITCHES_!”

They forget to ask him until much later why the _hell_ he brought a grenade with him.

After all, they have to run, run and run even though they want to turn right around and flatten who’s taken down Hinata’s house. It’s only Hinata, Hinata himself with his hands grabbing at their shoulders or pushing their backs as they run that keeps them going, his assurances that, “It’s all right. Just seeing it once was enough. Thank you, it’s okay, thanks…”

If tears stream fresh and hot down his face (regret, regret, loss, gratitude, his friends they’re _here_ they want to fight for him god what did he ever do before them?), they don’t notice, or they don’t comment.

 

* * *

 

“They weren’t there… I’m not sure where they are now. Probably somewhere they don’t deserve. If Enoshima had them, if I gave them to her… I’m sure that they had to have cursed me when they died. Or, would they have known what I did and why I did it…? No, if it was them, they would have known. They would’ve known for sure… I just wish I could’ve apologised properly. At least buried them and offered that much.

“But I’ll never forget them. I’ll never forget you both, as long as I live. I promise I’ll be your proud son this time around, I’ll make changes for the better.

“So watch over me… Mom… Dad…”

 

* * *

 

 

“Oh— Souda.”

Souda’s steps slow to a stop as he gazes at Hinata, surprised to find that he had the same idea, sitting out here under one of the projecting eaves, around the back side of the house. It still smells vaguely of bodies and decay here, but better since they buried the bodies, all of the graves lined up, almost eerie… except, for the fact that they know what happened and why.

Therefore… it’s just sad.

“What’re you doin’ up?” Souda flops to sit next to him, peering at him through the darkness. Hinata shrugs carelessly, looking forward, angling his gaze up.

“Nothing, really… talking to myself. And I was just thinking that… you know, the sky’s still the same, no matter what.” Souda follows his look up and gazes at the glimmer of stars. “Back in the old Tokyo… we wouldn’t have been able to look at the stars like this. Not living in the brighter places. I forgot, since we’ve always been able to see the stars well from the island…”

“Do you think Sonia-san’s looking at the stars now?” Souda asks abruptly.

“…I’d like to.”

Souda rubs his hand against the side of his head, mulling over something as he sifts his fingers through his black hair. Black, dark, dark, since he’d relented on dyeing it again, wearing the coloured contacts he hated, donning his glasses once more. They’d all already seen the worst of him. “I’m kinda glad she didn’t come.”

Hinata looks over at him, inclining his head for him to continue.

“I mean… it ain’t…” Souda pauses and frowns. “ _I_ … don’t…even really want to see everythin’ like this, you know?”

“But it’s a part of us, too,” Hinata reminds him, quietly.

“I know! I know that… but it’s scary. It’s scary, and I feel like… I’m going to lose it. I wouldn’t have wanted for Sonia-san to feel like that.” His hands raise to his head, fingers curling tight in his hair, clutching at it before Hinata’s fingers at his wrist prompt him to relax, breathe deeply in and out to calm himself down.

“One day, she’ll have to go to Novoselic. She’ll want to. Even you understand that, right, Souda?”

“Yeah.”

“And that place…no, anywhere else… is going to be as bad as it is here, I think. Sooner or later, she’s going to feel this too. Because she’s a princess, a ruler, because that’s really _her_ country, it’s going to be difficult for her. I understand you want to protect her, but… she’s strong, you know?”

Souda doesn’t answer, staring at him for a long moment. And then he looks away, up at the stars.

“Eh… well… stronger than me.”

Hinata blinks. “Souda…”

“I don’t wanna go tomorrow, Hinata. I’m terrified, y’know? I don’t want to see it.”

“You don’t have to—”

“I do!” Souda grips tight at the front of his pants, clenching them so hard his knuckles blanch. “All of you guys… you faced all of this stuff. You’re movin’ forward. You’re sure as hell not gonna leave me behind, so I’m going to do the same. I’m gonna go to that place and see… what I did. Even as much as I don’t want to.”

Hinata doesn’t say anything, but he leans sideways until they’re leaning together, shoulder-to-shoulder, a warm and comforting weight.

 

* * *

 

Souda leads the way—or, well, perhaps leading isn’t quite the right word, as they all gather close around him as they walk, as though they can sense his utter terror. Or, they’re waiting for an attack from those people from yesterday, those with the Monokuma masks, and find it better to travel in a tight cluster. Whatever reason it’s for, Souda’s  grateful, even as his pulse thunders in his throat and he feels like he might faint at any moment.

They travel over what used to be highway, but is now broken in places, entirely segmented and collapsed in others, but they improvise, find ways around or make them if they have to. They’ve brought various tools with them (up to and including grenades, in Souda’s case) that don’t make it _easy_ to travel across the ruined city, but they make it less harrowing.

“It was… this way,” Souda speaks hours into their journey after they’ve descended from the highway, and his figure leads them around a corner of the street, past shops with broken windows, buildings cracked near right in two, and strongly here they feel the presence of others, of eyes peering, but no person appears.

His shop—isn’t what they expect.

For one, it’s larger than Souda’s implied, with an apartment built onto the building (or perhaps the workshop built onto the apartment) and even Souda himself seems confused for a moment before it registers after he’s finished scanning the building. Much of the workshop is sealed off—an enormous door of steel keeps it sealed, and as far as Souda can see… it hasn’t been broken into. He hums uncertainly, poking around until he finds the lock keeping it in place.

It’s battered, as though many people have tried time and time again to break in to no avail. It’s a simple lock, though, a sequence of numbers… and Souda finds them easily, opening up the lock.

“All right… you guys gotta help me lift this thing, okay?” He glances back at them as he turns around and they’re already there, Owari snorting confidently.

“I can lift it on my own,” she boasts and comes closer, crouching and curling her fingers at the bottom. They join her despite her confidence, and lift—it’s terribly heavy, and Souda can feel his arms aching from exertion even as robot Nidai shouts “SPIRIIIIIIIT!!” at them all (very unhelpful, he’ll have you know). Then, with a great creaking and groaning, the door lifts, and they use momentum to push it upward.

However, one look inside the workshop makes all of them stop.

Souda’s blood turns to ice in his veins.

Weapons—weapons upon weapons, all of them for pain, all of them for torture. Gone are his bicycles, his motorbikes, that work of his that somehow turned into vehicles despite his best effort. No… here is the best evidence he has of his involvement, the best evidence of how much effect he’s had on everything. It’s worse and not worse than a pile of bodies, here are the things that would cause piles upon piles, heaps and tons of them, of the dead. All of a sudden, it’s hard to breathe and his vision’s swimming and ah, he remembers that weapon, didn’t he gun down—

A hand grips onto his, gripping too tight. It takes him a moment to realise it’s Owari. She jerks him bodily and he gasps in shock as she pulls him _inside_ that wretched workshop.

“No…” He struggles against her hold. “Stop it. I don’t wanna—”

She steers his hand onto, onto one of those wretched weapons, against it, something he’d made to kill because of that girl that damn girl, and he hears Hinata suck in a sharp breath of surprise behind them but nothing’s in his head anymore.

“It’s just metal, stupid,” she barks. Souda blinks. “If you don’t like it, all you gotta do is take it apart, right? Make somethin’ better. Ah, I got it! Make me an even bigger Nidai next time around, okay?! Make sure I can use him as a fridge so I can have some food cold.”

A grin spreads over her face, bright like the sun, and Souda blinks a few more times.

“Eh… ah… take it… apart?”

“Of course,” Owari declares. “Even you can do that much, yeah?!”

“Y… yeah…”

Souda’s legs wobble underneath him and Owari yelps as he collapses to his knees with a dull thud that sends pain humming up his legs. But he doesn’t notice. He’s gazing around him at the weapons. He can take them all apart. He can dismantle them and make them useless. He can, he can, he can…

“I’m no mechanic, but I’ll help you out,” Kuzuryuu’s voice comes from over his head. He looks up at him, Kuzuryuu with his hand on his hip, chin lifted confidently.

“You’ll probably blow somethin’ up,” Souda manages after a moment, catching Kuzuryuu’s offered hand.

Kuzuryuu glowers.

Then… from further down the road, from further away, they hear the sound of gunshots. All four of them stiffen and look out from the workshop door. They can’t see anyone yet, but they instinctively know it’s more of them, more than one or two of those people still caught up in Despair.

“The door,” Hinata bursts out and grabs it, hauling it down with the others, back to seal them inside.

A light flickers before coming on overhead and Souda smiles grimly. “You didn’t think I wouldn’ta had this place rigged up with my own special super-strong generator back from when I was a kid, didja? Now… what the hell are we gonna do.” He looks around them, at the sheer multitude of weapons…

“Oi, Souda,” Owari calls from across the workshop. “What about this thing?!”

 

* * *

 

They’ve been following them for days, those careless people who infringed on their territory, who wandered away from that zone of Hope, that disgusting Hope. They have scouts all over the city, though thanks to that Future Foundation, they’re growing weaker and weaker, as though the death of Enoshima Junko hadn’t been enough to scatter them.

However, none of them are expecting the sound of something moving at high velocity, none of them are expecting the explosion that blows an enormous chunk into the earth a safe distance behind them, and none of them could expect Owari Akane perched on the roof of a building sporting a rocket launcher.  
  
“Souda!” she shouts, excitedly, past the earplugs in her ears. “I wanna do it again, oi, gimme another one!” Robot Nidai helpfully chimes in with “ANOTHER ONE!!”

“This isn’t for fun and games, you know?!” Souda exclaims from next to her. “Ah, look, they noticed us.”

Hinata shifts slightly, staring down the shapes with their black-and-white masks. They’ve frozen, maybe in the face of even more dangerous weaponry than they expected. Owari levels the rocket launcher and peers through the sight, staring right at them.

“Should I hit ‘em straight on next time?”

Maybe they hear her. Maybe they just see that weapon pointed at them, for they scatter.

“That’s right, you fuckers, run away, ‘cause the next time you come after us, we’re going to take you all down!” Kuzuryuu shouts, slamming his foot on the roof and glaring down at retreating backs. And then, for good measure, he lobs something in his hand, his other having pulled a pin from it.

“Wh—did you take one of my grenades?!”

Souda’s exclamation is drowned out by the explosion that chases off the last of the masked people.

 

* * *

 

It takes a long time, for Souda to finish dismantling all of the weapons in his shop. Even with help. However, dismantling is easier than putting together, and as he works he remembers being here every day, working or when he was at home trying to take care of his useless father. Cooking, cleaning, working and whatever else… That had been his life.

It hadn’t been all bad.

But he’d been alone. Always alone.

Now, he can’t get them all to shut up for a second to let him work. Owari’s constantly touching _this_ or _that_ or Kuzuryuu’s messing up the task assigned to him, and Hinata laughs and damn it they’re so loud!

—it’s good. He likes it better, even if it annoys the hell out of him.

They decide to stay the night, as it takes a long time to pry Souda from it. He tentatively takes them into his old house, beaten-up and run-down and smelling faintly musty but thankfully devoid of bodies or unnerving stains. He takes them to his room, small as it is, and Kuzuryuu unceremoniously lays claim to Souda’s bed, followed by Owari and then Hinata and Souda’s pinching between his eyebrows at them all from the doorway.

It’s when he goes to look around his old kitchen while those losers are playing around that he’s hit by it again.

He finds them, old bottles of soda, unopened, in the fridge. He just stares at them, unable to remember if it was him or his dad who’d picked them up. He touches them hesitantly before pulling his hand back.

There’re too many things they can’t go back to. And, even though he was horribly afraid, still… maybe it wasn’t a bad thing that they came here after all.

He joins them in his room, angrily forcing them all off of his bed and flopping onto it, king of his dominion. He gets griping and gripes right back at them and throws a pillow at Hinata’s face. When night falls properly and Souda feels the unease of being curled up alone in his bed, he half-turns as he feels the mattress of the bed sinking. Kuzuryuu flops, back-to-back with him and tucks an arm under his head, eye closing.

Souda falls asleep like that, strangely deep and peaceful.

 

* * *

 

There’s no sight of the masked figures all the next day—maybe because they let Owari take the rocket launcher along. She carries it with a jump in her step (though Souda has the ammo in his possession, not trusting her not to just shoot it off randomly), and seems in good enough spirits that none of them can grumble at her too much.

It’s quiet, almost too quiet, but Hinata takes it as a good sign, so they all go along with his judgement.

They feel much more assured by the time they return to Kuzuryuu’s place, walk across those wood panelled floors as Kuzuryuu leaves them to go offer incense. Owari carries around the rocket launcher with her for a while longer until Hinata urges her to _put it down already_ and they eat dinner together, feeling exhausted but accomplished.

Naegi doesn’t visit that night and Souda wonders aloud if he might’ve come again the previous day.

“Want to go check out the Future Foundation’s place tomorrow and see if he’s hanging around there?” Kuzuryuu poses over an early supper.

“You know they’d shoot us if they spotted us, right?” Souda peers accusingly at him and Kuzuryuu flushes slightly.

“That isn’t what I meant, idiot…! I just meant a quick look, not actually going into their zone…”

“Let’s do it!” Owari declares with no hesitation and Souda turns his exasperated look on her next.

“We’ve already went to the places we wanted to go to, so I don’t think it’s a bad idea,” Hinata offers and Souda glowers. “Don’t worry, Souda. They wouldn’t just shoot some people wandering past… we just should keep our faces covered, like we’ve been doing.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Souda sighs. “Guess I don’t got a choice.”

 

* * *

 

They lay flat on their stomachs, peering over the top of the embankment, down to the zone below. They’ve come closer than they had the last time—and it’s early morning, so there are still not that many people around, besides the people patrolling the perimeter. It’s a large area—Souda can’t map it with his eyes alone, and he wonders how many people it holds, how many more are out there in the ruins of Tokyo. He wonders, too, how many different countries have something like this.

Hopefully a lot.

…he hopes Novoselic does.

Owari yawns enormously. “Ehh… there’s nothin’ happening. How long are we gonna stay here lookin’ for Naegi or Kiwhatsit or Toshimomo…”

“How are you forgettin’ Togami’s name…?!”

“It’s not just that… it’s watching what they’re doing. Aren’t you curious, Owari?” Hinata has his chin on the backs of his hands as he gazes down at the zone, his eyes soft. “I was thinking about how it’s a great thing…”

“I s’pose it is… but I’m tired. And I didn’t eat enough breakfast.”

“You ate more than all of us,” Souda grumbles.

“We’re getting pretty low on food,” Kuzuryuu remarks dryly, agreeing, “it’s a good thing we’re going back soon.”

 _Going back_ is a complicated set of words. Going back to the island, back to their self-imposed exile, back to a world where no-one but them knows they still live and exist and are doing their best to change. Back to waiting and trying to figure out a way to save their friends.

But… Souda misses it. He thinks the others do too.

“Mm… yeah. Oh, hey, look, there he is—”

They spy that little figure at Hinata’s indication, Naegi, who’s stopped to talk to one of the patrols, his head ducking and hand placed against the back of his neck.

“Looks like he’s getting lectured. Is he trying to sneak out to come see us?” Kuzuryuu smirks a bit and props his cheek against the knuckles of one hand.

“Look, Kirigiri’s comin’ to save the day,” Souda adds with a snicker.

True to form, Kirigiri’s joined Naegi, her posture authoritative even if none of them can hear what she’s saying from here. Eventually, the patrolperson nods and bows, walking past them both and they start to walk too, toward the edge of that safe zone.

“Let’s go meet them,” Hinata decides, sliding down and pushing himself to his feet.

“S’that okay?” Souda wonders.

“As long as it’s not too close, it should be.”

They’re just in time, in fact—they intersect with the two just in time, and Naegi initially starts at their hooded fingers, Kirigiri’s hand flying to a gun at her hip before Hinata lifts his hood up slightly and offers a smile of greeting.

“Hinata-kun,” Kirigiri sighs. “Can you not do such dangerous things? You’re lucky I had waited.”

“You’d check before shooting,” Hinata replies. “…That’s the kind of impression I get, at least.”

Kirigiri looks at him dryly, as though she’s contemplating reconsidering that just for him. Naegi hops in-between them with a tiny grin. “A-anyway, what’s the matter? Being so close… it’s dangerous for you guys.”

“We thought we’d pay you a visit this time around,” Owari says grandly, “so you should be pretty happy.”

“Er, well… it’s not that I’m not…”

“You should be heading back soon,” Kirigiri interrupts, though her expression softens slightly. “We’ll accompany you. We had been coming to check in on you. Naegi-kun said that you had an altercation with some of those gangs who live in the outer areas?”

“Oh yeah, those guys.” Owari grins. “We scared ‘em off a couple days ago with a rocket launcher.”

Kirigiri’s expression goes blank.

Hinata coughs. “We’ll… explain on the way.”

 

* * *

 

“…I see. Thank you. That’s useful information. Hopefully I can use it to start tracking their movements and we can locate wherever they’ve been staying.” Kirigiri accepts a cup of tea from Kuzuryuu before he flops down on the floor with the others, picking up a cup for himself.

“You guys have your work cut out for you,” Hinata says, frowning.

“Yes. But, whether you believe it or not, it is much better now than it was before. There is still a lot left to do, but…” Kirigiri trails off, frowns, and looks at Hinata. “Are you all intending to return to the island?”

Hinata blinks at the sudden shift, glancing at the others.

“Yeah, ‘course,” Souda’s the one to answer, “tomorrow we’re goin’ back.”

“…You wouldn’t prefer to remain here?” Kirigiri says after a long stretch of silence. The room’s atmosphere changes, in such a way that Naegi squirms a little where he’s sitting, and all four look stricken as though the idea hadn’t occurred to them. “After all, you could contribute to the repairs of this place.”

“The Future Foundation would kill us,” Souda splutters.

“N-no,” Naegi interjects weakly, “of course we’d protect you guys…”

“If not them, the rest of the people’d try to kill us,” Kuzuryuu continues darkly. “Not that we can blame them. If I was in their position, I’d hate us too.”

“So you’re intending to run away?” Kirigiri says very softly and slowly.

Hinata straightens.

“It isn’t like that, Kirigiri,” he says, firm. “Of course we want to do something. It was because of us that the world became like this… but at the same time, this isn’t the right time for it. Rather than it just being the four of us… For the next time we come here, I want it to be _all_ of us.”

“That’s just…”

“—we came here because we needed to face what we’d done,” Hinata continues. “That’s why we’re here now. But we can’t stay here when everyone else is still back on the island. We decided to pick our own futures…and part of that is walking it with everyone else. So… when the time comes that all of us can come here, will you look out for us then?”

There’s a long moment of quiet between them, gazing at one another, before eventually Kirigiri concedes with a sigh, closing her eyes.

“Very well. We’ll do what we can for you at that time.”

The atmosphere finally relaxes and Souda sags right into Kuzuryuu (much to his disdain), groaning about people being too intense for him to handle.

“But for now,” Naegi chimes in, “your boat back will be ready for tomorrow.”

“Good,” Kuzuryuu sighs, “just in time to keep Owari from eating the last of our provisions.”

 

* * *

 

The sea surges around the boat, bright and blue. The air grows warmer. Souda hangs over the side of the boat moaning about how much he hates travelling on things and couldn’t those bastards have given him some kind of medicine to keep him from throwing up… Kuzuryuu begrudgingly rubs his back when he’s sick, and Hinata does his level best to convince Owari out of the idea of jumping into the water and grabbing a marlin to cook up for supper.

They haven’t forgotten—it’s hard to forget those images, seared into your brain. They’ll never lose their memories again, of course, but seeing them had really told them everything. It might be a wonder they can all have fun together, Hinata muses, but they’re only human. They’re changing day by day, becoming more like their past selves and yet different, intent on a future.

The island is a welcome sight. So is the figure with her blond hair carried by a breeze, who jolts and hurries to the end of the dock as the boat pulls in alongside it. Souda tries to go for a greeting, but he’s still not over his motion sickness, so can only burble something indistinct.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re finally back, you’re late,” Sonia scolds them all, but there’s something else in her voice, urgent, quavering.

They notice fast, even Souda.

“Sonia?” Hinata hops off the boat to join her, quickly tying it in place. She’s wringing her hands, her eyes wide, and there’s panic in them, but there’s happiness and all number of other things and Hinata’s heart lurches in his chest. “Don’t tell me…?”

“Please hurry, we must go back right away!”

Helping Souda off the ship, Kuzuryuu turns his gaze toward the island. It’s the beginning of more difficult things, isn’t it? Owari’s nostrils flare with excitement, her eyes the eyes of a beast catching the scent of prey, and together they run toward the island proper.


End file.
